Letters to Stan 2
by CharmedMoon84
Summary: Fifteen years after her boyfriend's death, Wendy expresses regret that he and his daughter have never been able to meet face to face. Told in both Wendy and my OC's Jewel and Vanessa's viewpoints.
1. Chapter 1

Dear dad:

Mom sat down with me at the kitchen table this morning, because she had some stuff she felt that she needed to tell me about why you were never around for the last fifteen years. Confused by what she meant, I blinked a few times before she began talking. Good thing it was the weekend, cause I would have been late for school. Anyway, getting back to my conversation with mom this morning, mom told me you had passed away after being hit by a car two weeks after I'd been concieved.

I honestly didn't know how to react to that, so I just sat there in silence for a few minutes. I feel like you might not know what I look like, dad, so I'll tell you. I've got black hair that's down to just my shoulders, so it's long enough for me to pull back in a ponytail if I need to. I've got mom's brown eyes and your nose, at least according to mom. I've also got portions of your personality as far as animals go.

Mom seems really sad about you, especially when it was your birthday. The day of what should have been your 31st birthday, she just laid in bed all day, crying and holding a framed photo of you.

Your daughter,

Jewel


	2. Chapter 2

Dear lover:

Jewel suggested she and I go to the cemetery to place flowers on both your grave and the grave of your best friend forever today, but I said that we can do that another day, because I didn't really feel up to seeing the headstone that marks where you were laid to rest all those years ago. Jewel still doesn't know the whole story of how you met your death fifteen years and nine months earlier, evn though she's often asked me to tell her. I just can't bring myself to tell her, so I often end up shifting the conversation to something less painful.

I'll tell her when I feel she's ready to handle that news, which isn't right now. Everytime I look at our daughter, I can see that small portions of your genetics are reflected in her facial features as well as in her body structure. The way she carries herself is a mixture of how you and I each carried ourselves back when we were just high school freshmen fifteen years ago.

Things were so much brighter back then. You and I were happily in love and had plans to marry when we were attending the same college. Then a year and two weeks later, our dream of attending college and getting married was ruined the day your life was tragically cut short, which shattered my world and left me expecting the child you'd never had the chance to know about or even met. Jewel shouldn't have been denied growing up with both her parents.

Always your loving girlfriend


	3. Chapter 3

Hey, dad:

It's me again. Mom took me to the cemetery that's just outside of town today, so I could have my chance to honor you. During the drive out to the cemetery, she admitted to keeping the circumstances of your death a secret from me for the last fifteen years because she felt I wasn't quite ready to know about such a sad situation. Now though, she feels that I'm able to handle it.

I softly asked her why she had kept such a big secret from me my whole life and she told me there were times she wanted to tell me, but the right time hadn't presented itself. Silence fell between mom and I for the reminder of the car ride.

Finally, mom pulled in front of the cemetery gates and we both got out of the car before making our way through the open gates and walked among the headstones in order to reach your grave, which was on the hilltop overlooking the rest of the cemetery. Once we both reached your gravesite, I noticed the grave that stood alongside yours and mom admitted the second grave belonged to your best friend forever, who I'd never known about.

Jewel


	4. Chapter 4

To my lover:

Jewel's out having lunch with her aunt and cousin, so it's just me in the house. Not wanting to be alone in an empty house, I also leave and spend some time just walking around town. I walked by the park and I come to a stop when I spot the memorial stone that was made as a means to not forget your memory.

I blink back the tears at a memory I have where I was told by your mom that you hadn't survived the hit and run. The instant those dreadful words escaped her lips, I felt my heart shatter into dozens of tiny pieces as the waves of grief overcame me. But it's not just your daughter who has to go her whole life without you around. Your ten year old niece Vanessa will only hear stories about her uncle from her mom.

Joyce Winters denied you the chance to be a dad and uncle to Jewel and Vanessa. I've tried my best to be a wonderful and single mother to Jewel for the last fifteen years, but it's not easy being a single mom. Being a single mother has been tough on me, even with the support of your family.


	5. Chapter 5

Hi, dad:

Mom drove me to the cemetery to visit you again. During the ten minute drive there, she softly asked me if I wanted to learn all I wanted about your life and the brotherly friendship you and your best friend forever shared. I said yes and she proceeded to tell me about the circumstances that had led to your passing from this world.

I just listened to her story. Once she had told me just how you had died, she then told me that your best friend forever had finally given up on living and put a bullet in his head to end his suffering and to be reunited with you again. Once mom had come clean about how you'd died, I just sat in the front passenger seat, not sure what to say to her.

Finally, I asked mom why she felt that I needed to be kept in the dark all these years about the manner in which you'd died. She admitted that she regretted ot telling me earlier, but she was dealing with mourning you and raising me at the same time, which conflicted with revealing the truth at the time, plus I was a little too young to know the truth.

Your daughter Jewel


	6. Chapter 6

Dear uncle Stan:

Mom dropped me off at school today, which according to her, is the same school you attended when you were my age. During the drive to school, I couldn't help but notice just how sad mom seemed. I asked her why she was sad, but she firmly said that her sadness wasn't my business. I'll admit that kind of hurt and mom noticed my wounded expression.

She immediately apologized and said I'd find out the true reason for her sadness when I'm old enough to understand why. A couple of my school friends, Vivian McK. and Chris C. have some idea why mom's sad sometimes, but their dads have told them not to say anything about it to me, because mom would be mad.

I'm only ten, but mom's told me enough stories about you from her childhood memories that I have an image of what you look like, even though you passed away when mom was twenty. But it's not just mom who only has memories of you.

Your niece,

Vanessa


	7. Chapter 7

Hey, dude:

I allowed my daughter Vivian to accompany me to the cemetery when I mentioned I was heading out there to go see you, which I'd been doing once a month. Her mom wasn't too happy that I'd given into a request by my ten year old daughter, but she'd grudgingly allowed it after securing my promise that it'd just be a one time thing.

Vivian whined a little about the one time thing, but Serenity gave her a firm look that clearly warned her not to push it or she'd be grounded for a week. Frowning, Vivian relented and she and I both left the house together. We walked rather then drove to the cemetery because we don't live that far from the outskirts of town.

During the walk, Vivian asked me question after question about your life and I patiently answered each one. But then, she asked me the single question I haven't been able to bring myself to deal with all these years, because it's been too painful. Vivian wanted to know just how you'd died, but I wasn't ready to reveal the details of that painful day to my daughter, so I just shifted the topic to something more cheerful.

Your friend,

K.M.


	8. Chapter 8

Hi again, dad:

Mom finally came clean about why the grave of your best friend forever stood alongside yours, which deeply saddened me. But after she'd revealed that he'd resorted to putting a single bullet in his head to be with you again, she handed me a huge stack of letters that she, grandma, grandpa and my great uncle started writing to you within a few days of your death and continued writing them up until my birth. I looked through some of the letters before I met mom's gaze.

Thousands of quesions arose, but I didn't know which ones to ask, cause I thought some would hurt mom's feelings. Mom sensed my unwillingness to ask certain questions and she gently encouraged me not to be worried about asking her some difficult questions, because it was my right to know as much as I could about your life and death. The question and answer period went back and forth for a few hours until I finally ran out of things to ask mom.

Once mom had answered my final question, she rose from the table and headed towards the fridge, so I also left the table to help her with lunch. During lunch, I silently reflected on everything she'd told me about your life and death as well as what I'd learned about your slightly revolting habit of blowing chunks in mom's presence back when you and she were kids. Seeing my slightly disgusted expression, mom knnew what I was thinking about and she assured me that you had grown out of that habit shortly after entering your teen years.

Jewel


	9. Chapter 9

Hey, uncle:

Mom wanted me to spend some time with Jewel today, which made me grumble just a little bit, cause I planned to spend the day hanging out with Vivian and Chris. Seeing that I was a little unwilling to spend some of today with Jewel, she used my first and middle names in a motherly warning voice, which told me I was pushing things with her. So, I grudgingly agreed to spend time with my cousin. After I'd agreed to just hang with Jewel, mom called her mom and invited them both over.

They both arrived fifteen minutes later and it was just me and Jewel in the living room while our moms went into the kitchen, an awkward silence dangling between the two of us, because of the five year age gap that divided our interests. Jewel cautiously broke the obvious tension between us by asking me about Vivian and Chris.

I looked up at my fifteen year old cousin and blinked, a little taken aback by her interest in my two good friends, because I thought she'd be interested in the things that other girls her age would devote time to, like boys, makeup and gossip, none of which interested a ten year old girl.

Vanessa


	10. Chapter 10

Hello, lover:

I've not bothered dating any other man these last fifteen years, because my loyalty belongs to you, But I'm now in my early thirities and I think it's time that Jewel deserves a father figure in her life now. At the time of Jewel's concievement, you and I were just sixteen, which your parents as well as my parents thought that was too young an age for us to have a child of our own, but neither of us cared because of how much in love we were.

I hope you can forgive me for wanting our daughter to have some sort of fatherly role model for the first time in her life, but I'll always love you first and foremost. But then, I encounter an obstacle in deciding who would be the best choice for Jewel's stepdad. Her godfather is out of the running, because he has a wife and daughter already.

If only your best friend forever hadn't taken his own life, I'd consider him being Jewel's stepdad. But then, I realize that Jewel hasn't shown much interest in having a stepdad present in her life, so I finally give up on that option, because you've been with our daughter all these years in one way or another.

Your forever devoted girlfriend


End file.
